Pakistan launches military operation after deadly airport attack

File photo shows Pakistani Army.

Pakistan sent troops, artillery and helicopter gunships to the troubled North Waziristan region today in a long-expected military operation just a week after a deadly insurgent attack on the country's biggest airport.

The Taliban and ethnic Uzbek fighters holed up in North Waziristan - home to some of Pakistan's most feared militants and al Qaeda commanders - have both claimed responsibility for last Sunday's commando-style attack on Karachi airport.

The brazen all-night assault all but destroyed prospects of peace talks with the militants, who are fighting to topple the Pakistani government and impose a strict Sharia-based theocracy in the nuclear-armed nation.

The army said a total of 105 insurgents, mostly Uzbeks, were killed by air strikes which preceded the ground operation.

"Our valiant armed forces have been tasked to eliminate these terrorists regardless of hue and colour, along with their sanctuaries," the army said in a statement.

"With the support of the entire nation, and in coordination with other state institutions and law enforcement agencies, these enemies of the state will be denied space anywhere across the country."

It was not known where in North Waziristan, a mountainous ethnic Pashtun region on the Afghan border, the operation was taking place.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had long opposed outright military action, stressing the need to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, and the decision to send troops means that the powerful army had once again won the upper hand in Pakistan.

It also raises the risk of revenge attacks by Taliban insurgents outside the tribal region after the Taliban vowed to strike back and hit Pakistani security and government targets.

The army has resorted to periodic air strikes against militant positions but has not been involved on the ground. Earlier, fighter jets pounded militant hideouts.

"We as a government tried our level best to resolve this crisis through dialogue," the defence ministry said in a statement. "We were frustrated through attacks on innocent Pakistanis and damage to national assets."

It added: "This operation will continue until the surrender or elimination of the enemy."

In anticipation of more violence, families have been fleeing North Waziristan into other parts of Pakistan as a climate of fear has gripped the lawless mountainous region.

It was not immediately known whether there were any civilian casualties. Journalists' movements are restricted in the ethnic Pashtun region where the army has imposed a curfew, and verifying official or insurgent accounts is next to impossible.

Military sources said Pakistan had sent 40,000 troops to the region for the operation, bringing the total to 80,000 and sealing off the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani authorities fear that militants might try to escape through the porous border along with civilians.